As you’re studying this, it’s day 57 or so of the
“100-Day Plan” to attempt to enhance its
.
The event of a plan was introduced by Minister
on Sept. 2, after
on X (previously generally known as Twitter) that it was obvious the CRA was not assembly acceptable service requirements for Canadians.
That assertion was hardly a revelation given the deeply entrenched points the CRA has had with its name centres. So long as I’ve been practising — 30-plus years — it’s been exhausting to get by to talk to an agent. However that has not too long ago turn into noticeably worse.
The CRA has been updating Canadians on its progress on the
by a
. Among the enhancements are commendable, however to counsel the CRA’s systemic issues will be solved in 100 days is laughable. It would take rather more time to make
mandatory and sustainable enhancements
.
The Taxpayers’ Ombudsman agreed in a
it launched late final week, which counseled the CRA for progress thus far, however mentioned that “with some processing delays far exceeding the CRA’s standard service requirements, it’s unlikely that the CRA will scale back the backlog to a sustainable degree by the tip of the 100-day interval.
An extended-term dedication and ample sources can be mandatory. By lowering its processing delays, the CRA might scale back the variety of calls it receives and
scale back wait instances for taxpayers
.”
And now we all know why Champagne directed the CRA to give you a 100-day plan. Timing, as they are saying, is all the things. Final week, the auditor basic launched its
on the findings about its CRA name centre efficiency audit. It’s apparent that he and CRA had obtained an advance copy of the report and wished to get forward of its findings and suggestions. It’s very damning.
Some highlights:
- “Within the 2024–25 fiscal yr, the company obtained greater than 32 million calls. To deal with these inquiries, the company relied on a workforce of about 4,500 brokers as of March 31, 2025.”
- “In our 2017 audit of name centres, the (CRA’s) service normal was to have its brokers reply calls inside two minutes, 80 per cent of the time. Nevertheless, to realize this normal, the company blocked a excessive variety of calls. For the month of June 2025, the company indicated that solely 5 per cent of the calls had been answered inside quarter-hour.”
- “Between 2023–24 and 2024–25, the variety of contact centre brokers was decreased by 22 per cent. As of Could 31, 2025, there have been 3,530 brokers in contrast with 4,547 on March 31, 2025, and with 5,837 on March 31, 2024.”
- “In fall 2024, the company reintroduced name deflection, which redirected calls to the self-service possibility … with out giving the caller the choice to talk to an agent. For … 2024–25 … roughly 8.6 million calls had been deflected.”
- “Via our testing of non-account-specific or basic questions, we discovered that within the space of particular person taxes, solely 17 per cent of the solutions supplied had been correct.”
- “We additionally discovered that restricted time was devoted to bettering accuracy and completeness by high quality analysis suggestions and training. In 2024–25, the company reported over 130,000 hours spent on high quality evaluations which resulted in solely 2,200 hours of teaching, suggestions or coaching — below half-hour per agent yearly.”
Once more, it is a scathing report.
Level No. 5 has been getting essentially the most consideration by media — solely 17 per cent of the solutions had been correct — and that’s regarding. Nevertheless, to be honest, Canadians must first perceive that the CRA isn’t within the enterprise of offering tax recommendation. It’s within the enterprise of administering our advanced taxation statutes.
Second, it’s a stretch to assume that CRA name centre brokers are anticipated to know the solutions to revenue tax questions posed to them on the telephone. The auditor basic’s report doesn’t disclose the questions that had been requested. Had been they easy questions? Troublesome?
Within the tax world, there are usually not many easy questions and to place the CRA on this age of immediate gratification to a normal of answering questions on the spot is debatable. Even seasoned tax professionals akin to myself cringe to reply questions on the spot. In the event you’re a tax practitioner who’s snug with that, effectively, peace be with you.
However, the reply to bettering high quality solutions and repair is to coach brokers that significantly better. It’s surprising to me that brokers obtain solely half-hour of annual coaching (#level No. 6).
Tax is among the most advanced topics recognized to man. To have solely half-hour of annual coaching to manage such complexity is silly. That should enhance and it may possibly simply be achieved.
Mixed with higher coaching, essentially the most substantive factor that may be achieved is for Canada to make an actual effort to simplify our general tax system. That’s simpler mentioned than achieved and would require a political dedication for general tax reform that’s lengthy overdue.
The
to bettering CRA’s name centres is to not add to their already bloated headcount. Having mentioned that, the data disclosed in level No. 3 is regarding. Why would the CRA scale back the variety of name brokers when volumes had been growing and requirements reducing? Appears counterintuitive to me.
Clearly, there’s a proper variety of brokers who ought to be taking the calls and the CRA must get again to that match.
The CRA’s 100-day plan ought to embody implementing callback queues and a scheduling system, setting exhausting service requirements, increasing the devoted phone service for revenue tax professionals, making certain impartial oversight and, as highlighted above, coaching its crew members higher.
The CRA should do higher. There are about 43 days left for the CRA to show it’s critical about bettering service to Canadians, not simply deflecting accountability prefer it deflects calls.
Kim Moody, FCPA, FCA, TEP, is the founding father of Moodys Tax/Moodys Non-public Shopper, a former chair of the Canadian Tax Basis, former chair of the Society of Property Practitioners (Canada) and has held many different management positions within the Canadian tax group. He will be reached at kgcm@kimgcmoody.com and his LinkedIn profile is https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimgcmoody.
_____________________________________________________________
In the event you like this story, join the FP Investor E-newsletter.
_____________________________________________________________
